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We pulled out of our campsite at
9:00 and after stopping at the sani-dump to empty our holding tanks, we were on
our way.We said goodbye to the
community of Cultus Lake and after making our way through Chilliwack, we were
on Highway 1 east.At Hope, we continued
north on Highway 5, the Coquihalla. The Fraser River is really high.

We arrived in Merritt shortly
after noon and found the Canadian Tire store where they had an easily
accessible sani-dump...we needed to fill up with fresh water.Right across the street was an Extra Foods
store so while Steve was busy with the trailer, I went across and did some
grocery shopping.

All stocked up, it was time to
find our way to the rodeo grounds where the ATVBC Poker Ride was being held.It must have been close to 2:00 when we
pulled into the grounds and were greeted by Don Frew, the fellow from the West Kootenay Club that took us riding around the Trail area last June and Steve had
elk hunted with last fall in the Kootenays.He had a spot ready for us to back into.

It was really warm (finally) so
we changed into our shorts and sat down with Don for a quick visit while we ate
our lunch...then it was time for work.We spent the next couple of hours getting all set up... groceries put
away, etc.

Once Zan arrived (he is the
president of ATVBC and a member of our club—Cowichan Valley ATV) and got his
truck/camper and quad trailer parked, it was time for the guys to set up a
canopy tent.I was very impressed...Don
actually read the directions!

Here is Steve, Don and Jeff working
on it...Don is a member of a Kootenay ATV club (Trail) and Jeff is from the
Prince George club...both are Directors of ATVBC.

Well, since yesterday was our 2
year anniversary of our last working day, today was our 2 year anniversary of
starting our travels.The past 2 years
have been an absolute blast and we are looking forward to many more years.

Today’s forecast was true to form
with cloud and rain so it was pretty much a “do nothing” kind of day.Since we were supposed to leave today, I
called the main gate to see if our site was available for another night...other
than one other site, all others are empty in our loop and I don’t think there
are many taken in the other section.So,
yes it was available so Steve drove up to pay before the rain started.

I’d say the only good thing about
being stuck inside today was that I was able to get our travel blog
up-to-date...I spent the morning working on it.Come afternoon...well, I laid down on the couch for a nap and listened
to the pitter-patter of the rain.Steve
spent his time on the iPad researching and reading “RV stuff”.

At about 4:00 Steve went outside
to see if the rain had subsided enough for a campfire...it had, so he got a
fire going and we sat out until the last of the firewood was gone.The timing was right because it was time to
go in and get dinner going and Steve wanted to pack up a few things before
heading in for the evening.

Tomorrow sunshine is in the
forecast and we are heading to Merritt...looking forward to some ATV riding!

Two years ago today was our last
day of work...I remember that day well!After almost 35 years at BC Assessment and over 37 for Steve at Pacific
Controls, it felt very surreal thinking that this was it...our last day!Both Steve and I had been looking forward to
it for so long...so much planning had gone into our new lifestyle...and now it
was here!

We actually woke up to some
sunshine this morning...finally!But it
really didn’t last...it wasn’t a bad day but clouds rolled in making it more “cloudy
with sunny breaks” rather than the other way around.

I made a lunch and we headed out
just after 9:00.Our destination was
Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park 42km away, but we wanted to check out the recreational
sites along the way.We’d like to see if
any are big enough for us to fit into.

The Chilliwack River, like all of
the other rivers in BC, is very high right now...

We stopped at Tamahi CreekRecreation Site and found the first section near the road is very
accessible with lots of room to maneuver.The next section had a few sites that we would fit into but the majority
were in thick forest. Steve asked a fellow that had quads about riding from here and was told that there had been a land slide in the riding area and the work crews wouldn't be out until 4:30. Oh well..we will have lots of riding in the next few days at Merritt.

We actually thought that the road
to Chilliwack Lake was a Forest Service road and that we would off-load the ATV’s
and ride them but as it turned out the road was paved all of the way. A very pretty drive...

Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park
has a newer section with wide roads and large sites suitable for big rigs.It was very nice...we will definitely keep it
in mind for another time.The only thing
I don’t like about it is that there is no cell/MiFi service in the area.The rest of the campground is older with very
treed, small sites...more suitable for tenters or small RV’s.

After driving around the campground,
we went down to the boat launch area.The lake is so high that there is no beach at the moment.We parked and took our lunch down to the boat
launch area.

Such a pretty lake...

Still lots of snow in the mountains...

This little fellow joined us for lunch...

On our way back to Chilliwack we
stopped at another recreation site...Thurston Meadows is very nice and there
are a couple of sites that we could possible get into but you cannot ride ATV’s
from it.So if we come back to this area
and want to ride, we will likely stay at Tamahi Creek...or Chilliwack Lake (for
fishing).

Before heading back to Cultus
Lake, we went into Chilliwack and filled up a propane tank as well as all of
the gas containers...in preparation for the ATV Poke Ride in Merritt.We’ve been watching the weather forecast but
it looks like rain for tomorrow so we will likely stay put for another day...we
always seem to be at the mercy of the weather!!

Back home, I decided to go down and take a
shower...the park has flush toilets (rather than pit) and “free” hot
showers.So since we are paying
$30/night, I thought I would take advantage of it besides the holding tanks are
getting pretty full in the trailer.

Just before 4:00 we headed over
to see Neil and Lisa.There is a
beautiful golf course between us and 1000 Trails RV Park....

Neil had just finished working
(he mows the lawns for the park) and was in the shower so Lisa took us for a
walk down to the creek that runs into Cultus Lake...Foster Creek, I believe...

We had a great visit with Neil
and Lisa but unfortunately forgot to take pictures of their rig and site in the
park...sheesh!After about an hour and a
half, we said our goodbyes and headed home.They are very nice folks...and we hope to connect with them again in the
future.

Steve got a campfire going once
we got home and we sat enjoying the fire and toasting two years of
retirement.Amazing at how fast the time
has flown by...we love our new lifestyle!

It was another cloudy, cool day
today.By late morning we decided to go
for a walk around the campground and down to the lake.The aftermath of yesterday’s storm was
evident everywhere...lots of leaves, branches and trees down....they have a big clean up job to do!

Back at our site, I sat outside
reading my book while Steve busied himself cleaning debris off the trailer
awnings and generally puttering around.By
late afternoon, I had finished my book and decided to go for a saunter around
the portion of the campground we were in.

When I got back, Steve had
company sitting around the fire with him.Neil and Lisa are work-camping just up the road at the 1000 Trails RV
Resort.We met Neil and Lisa at the
campground in Fort Langley.They had
just retired, sold their house in White Rock and were embarking on a new
lifestyle of “full-timing”.As soon as
they retired, they went down to Mesa, Arizona for 6 weeks and were actually
staying at the Val Vista RV Village in January when we were there.Neil says he remembers seeing our rig.Too funny!

We had a nice visit with them and
after making plans to walk over and see them and their park tomorrow, we said
our goodbyes.

We enjoyed barbequed burgers
while sitting around the campfire before deciding to head inside.Steve wanted to print off some Backroads Maps
of the Chilliwack River area.We thought
we would offload the quads tomorrow and explore the area.

It wasn’t raining (yet) this
morning so at around 11:00 we thought that we would go for a walk down to the
lake and take our fishing rods with us. We had hoped to either go quading or launch the boat but the forecast was iffy. Once
out of the trees, we realized that there were a few patches of blue sky and the
sun was actually trying to make an appearance.It managed to a couple of times and it was quite warm.We stood on the beach casting our lines into
the lake and other than one bite that I had on my line, we were unsuccessful in
our fishing endeavours.

After about 45 minutes, we
decided to go around to the boat launch and try our luck there but once we got
there, it was too busy...lots of kids around playing on the dock and beach...so
we sat for a bit enjoying the view before walking back to our campsite.

We spent the afternoon resting
and reading outside in our lounge chairs.Shortly after 3:30 Steve decided to chop some firewood and get a
campfire going.The wood was wet so he
had a hellava time getting it started but by adding extra paper and getting the
fan out, he finally got it going.

While he had been trying to get
the campfire going, we had noticed that it had gotten quite dark out...yup,
there were some heavy clouds coming in.Steve joked that it will probably start raining as soon as he gets the
fire going.Well, he was right on...but
it wasn’t just a little rain!

It started with thunder and lightning, then wind...slight at
first and then it got stronger and stronger...not a good thing when you are in
the midst of lots of tall old trees!
We felt safer outside until the wind subsided a bit in case a tree or large branch came down.We had just managed to get our chairs put away under the awning when all
of a sudden the clouds gave way to a down pour of hail and heavy rain.It was quite the storm...

After taking a few pictures, we
scrambled inside...at least we had the trailer to go into to get out of the
storm...I felt sorry for all of the tenters in the campground.We noticed that some of our neighbours had
retreated inside their vehicles.

In a matter of minutes, the ground was saturated...

After dinner we watched another
movie..."Horrible Bosses"...too funny!

We were surprised to see the sun
shining this morning when we got up since the forecast is for rain today.It was quite a lovely morning but the clouds
did start rolling in and the rain started around noon.

Steve decided to walk down to the
lake and do a little fishing by the creek.I baked cookies and worked on our travel blog. When I started to hear the pitter-patter of
raindrops, I figured it wouldn’t be long before Steve returned.Sure enough, he was soon back...he apparently
caught a fish on his first cast but lost it while fumbling for his camera
(sounds like a good fish story to me!)

The rest of the afternoon was
spent inside...I was on the laptop while Steve had taken over the iPad.By late afternoon, we tried sitting outside
under the awning and do some reading but it wasn’t long before we gave up that
idea and headed back inside...it was just too chilly out.

We watched a movie (J. Edgar
Hoover) and then a recorded program.After dinner and dishes, it had stopped raining so we went for a walk
around the campground...it’s amazing the number of weekend campers that have
arrived.And most are in tents...with
little kids...and in the rain!

The forecast for today was for
sunshine and highs of 24C/78F...it ended up being very warm but there was a
high cloud covering all day so it wasn`t very sunny.

After our usual start to the day,
I cooked a “big” breakfast, we had our showers and were ready to head off into
Chilliwack.Steve had looked up the
addresses of a couple of motorsports stores...hopefully one of them will have
the hand protectors/mirrors that I need for my ATV.I really don’t care about the hand
protectors...what I am really after is a better rear-view mirror so I can see
what’s coming up behind me.We ended up
getting an actual mirror.Steve had
shunned away from it because there isn’t much room on the handlebars to mount
one but after talking to the Yamaha dealer, he decided to give it a try.Hopefully, he’ll be able to mount it without
too much difficulty.

We fuelled up with diesel at the
Flying J station ($1.27/litre) and then headed to a Husky station for propane
and gas (for the generator).After
stopping at the liquor store and the bank, our errands were all done...time to
head back to Cultus Lake.

We wanted to explore around the
community of Cultus Lake but after parking in a huge lot by the lake, we went
to pay...we were willing to pay $1/hour but not $20 for our oversized
vehicle.We had a quick look at the beach
area, took a few pictures...

...and then went back to the truck and drove around to
another part of the community...and the other end of the beach...

I bet it gets pretty noisy around here in the summer with all of the high powered boats and jet skis...

Steve got a shot of the skier wave jumping.This morning we had noticed a
place just on the edge of the town that sold firewood, so we thought we would
check it out on our way back.The
fellows who were selling it looked like they were right out of “Deliverance” but
were friendly enough and the wood was $6/box full...so we found room for 2
loads in the truck. We ended up with
much more firewood for $12...not to mention that the pieces themselves were
larger!

On the way back to our campground
(we are at the furthest one of the four in the park), we stopped at the main
day-use area at the entrance.We have
come to the conclusion that the whole Cultus Lake area...from the town to the
provincial park...must be extremely busy in the summer months given the sizes
of all of the parking lots.

There are
some people out enjoying the warmth today but on the whole, it’s pretty
quiet.

That’s why I was surprised to see a concession stand open in this day-use area.It was going on 2:30 by this time and we were hungry so we decided to
have something to eat.Steve had a
cheese burger while I ordered a chicken wrap (nice that they had some healthier
alternatives) and we sat at one of the picnic tables and ate our lunch.

Back home, after unloading the
firewood, we sat outside reading until it was time to start a campfire.We sat out until around 8:00 and then after a
walk around the campground, we decided to go inside and watch a movie...“War
Horse” was excellent.

Tomorrow, the weather is supposed
to revert back to rain...today is the official start of summer...okay, we are
waiting!!

Banff

About Us

We married in 1982 and our sons, Rob and Chris were born in 1983 and 1985. In 1990 we built our dream home in North Saanich just north of Victoria BC on 1.21 acres. We both had long careers, Dianne in Human Resources and Steve as Branch Manager for a controls systems wholesaler.
Steve always felt that there were no guarantees in life as far as health and mortality went, so we planned to retire early and RV full-time.
In late 2009 we began the build process on our custom Toy Hauler truck, taking delivery in early 2010. We moved into our new Montana 5th wheel in Feb 2010, living in it for 4 months while still working. In May 2010 we purchased 2 Yamaha Grizzly 550 ATVs. We're ready!
Just shy of our 55th birthdays, on June 25, 2010 we retired and started our life as gypsies.
We prefer dry camping (boondocking), getting as far away from civilization as possible. However, our size limits us from getting into all of those remote areas. Good thing we have the ATVs to explore with.